Honey Vanilla Yogurt Suitable to Serve at a Wedding. :)

Earlier this month I made 6 gallons of my honey vanilla yogurt for a dear friend, Ilona Hunsaker--actually it was for her son's wedding open house she had in her gorgeous back yard. She served make-your-own yogurt parfaits. They were a big hit and many of those attending asked her for the recipe for the yogurt. \

I'm posting it here on my blog because I thought it would be the easiest way for me to share it with them. (Also because I have posted these instructions before and I just had to go into my archives and retrieve them. I found that I have changed the recipe a bit since I first posted this, so I have updated them for this post).


It's healthy, tasty, and easy. You just need a candy thermometer, a good sauce pan, an oven that can maintain a temperature of 100 degrees, and the following ingredients:

HONEY VANILLA YOGURT
8 cups of fresh milk
2/3 cup powdered milk
2 tablespoon cornstarch
2 teaspoon unflavored gelatin (1/2 envelope)
2 scant teaspoon instant pectin

Mix together in a heavy sauce pan with a wire whisk.
Turn the burner to low-medium low and let the milk slowly rise in temperature up to 170 degrees, but DO NOT let the milk come to a boil. Stir occasionally to prevent a film sticking to the bottom of the pan.

When the milk mixture reaches 170, remove from heat and stir in:
3/4 to 1 cup honey
1 teaspoon vanilla

When the mixture reaches a temperature between 112 and 108, add:
1/2 cup of yogurt starter. (Use plain or vanilla. You can reserve a 1/2 cup from your previous batch of yogurt).

Mix well with wire whisk. Strain and pour into containers. I like to use Pyrex bowls that come with lids, but I have found that used yogurt containers work, as long as they have snap on lids.

Put the lids on the containers and place in a pre-heated 100 degree oven for 8 to 10 hours. Turn off the heat and let remain in the oven for another 1 to 6 hours, depending on how strong you want the yogurt flavor.

Refrigerate and enjoy.